It's a small moon after all

We must've been pretty bored to even begin talking about it, but Saturday night Marshall, Cody, and I agreed to disagree about whether or not the moon is actually larger when it is setting on the horizon. Cody and Marshall cited some sort of magnification effect produced by the atmosphere, while I maintained that the moon only appeared larger based on its relative closeness to objects on the ground.

The magnification effect is a misconception. As I conceded, the atmosphere does change the color of the moon, but it in no way enlargens it. In fact, the refraction that does occur due to atmospheric interference tends to make both the sun and moon appear smaller, and even squished, at the horizon. Also, we have to remember that the the moon is more than 4000 miles further away from us when we see it at the horizon than when we see it at zenith.

My armchair theory, that the perceived size of an object is affected by the context of its immediate visual enverionment, is actually Alhazen's. When we see the moon rising againt familiar objects such as trees, buildings, etc., we perceive it as being substantially larger than when we see it in the bare expanse of the night (or daytime) sky.

I think it's a pretty plausible explanation, but it is only one among many. This guy has has put together a pretty impressive compendium of several of the competing hypotheses. Some of them are fucking intense. Because the illusion has to be an artifact of the evolution of our Pleistocene ancestors' cognition, I would probably bet that the final answer, if one is ever discovered, is a composite of different theories.

And I would say that's a pretty big IF. The mind is so damn complicated, I'm still not convinced that in this era of technology we've even made very many truly monumental discoveries about it. (Giz will probably kill me for saying that.)

A few years back I went on a Pinker reading binge, and I remember thinking that - wow, this is fascinating, and his stuff has to be on the right track, but shit. We've still gotta be centuries away from even approaching a real understanding of the mind's inner workings.

Then again, I studied math and alcoholism, so what the fuck do I know.